Eli raised one of his eyebrows to hear another Chen he would handle again.
"Can he move at all?" he asked.
"Yeah. Just it will be slow."
"Okay. Get them. We're leaving in five minutes."
Marcus nodded and disappeared upstairs.
Eli stood in the doorway, watching the street.
Two of the corrupted souls from earlier had wandered closer. They were still below fifty percent, still docile.
But they were drifting, following some invisible current toward the living.
'They can sense us,' Eli realized. 'They know we're here.'
Marcus came back down with maybe an eight years old girl, and an elderly man using a cane.
"This is Sophie," Marcus said, nodding to the girl. "And Mr. Chen."
Mr. Chen looked at Eli with suspicious eyes. "You military?"
"No, sir."
"Police?"
"Medical intern."
"And they sent you?"
"No one sent me," Eli admitted. "I'm just trying to help."
Mr. Chen grunted. "Honest, at least."
Sophie tugged on Marcus's sleeve. "Is he going to save us?"
Marcus looked at Eli, and he forced a smile. "Yeah. I'm gonna try,"
*******
[SURVIVORS SECURED: 3/6]
[WAYPOINT UPDATE: 0.4 MILES]
[TIME REMAINING: 1 HOUR 42 MINUTES]
Three down, and three to go.
Eli led the small group out into the street, keeping them close behind him.
Marcus carried the baseball bat, her sister held her brother's hand in silence. Mr. Chen moved slowly but steadily.
They made it two blocks before they encountered another revenant.
This one was worse.
[HOSTILE REVENANT DETECTED]
[CORRUPTION LEVEL: 61%]
It was a male, a construction worker from the look of his clothes. He was massive, perhaps over six feet, easily two fifty.
And this one was fast.
He came out of nowhere, bursting through a fence, roaring with its claws extended at them.
"GET BACK!" Eli shouted.
He threw himself between the revenant and the survivors, and quickly reached out, to grasp the revenant's soul.
But this one was strong.
The soul fought back, thrashing inside the body, making it nearly impossible to hold.
The revenant swung his claws at him.
Eli ducked, but not fast enough. The blow caught him across the ribs, making him flew backward, and hit the pavement hard on his back.
Pain seared through his side.
Marcus screamed, Sophie buried her face in her brother's shirt.
The revenant kept advancing to him.
Eli pushed himself up, wincing, but his eyes were bloodshot. "Come on, you piece of—"
He reached again, this time deeper and harder.
GRASP.
He managed not just to hold the soul, he crushed it accidentally.
The revenenat stopped at its track, its mouth opened, pouring out black smoke.
Eli pulled with everything he had, and the soul shattered.
The body collapsed.
The corrupted energy rushed into him, and the memories fled into his mind.
Aaron Webb, 41, construction foreman, died in the intial surge, angry.
[CORRUPTION SOUL CONSUMED]
[+180 EXP]
[HUMANITY INDEX: 77%]
Eli could feel the edges of his emotions smoothing over, and the guild for consuming the soul faded faster now.
Marcus ran over to him. "Holy shit, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Eli lied, wincing. His ribs probably cracked, but it was in the state of healing itself as he spoke.
"Keep moving," he said.
*******
They found the next three survivors two streets over.
A mother with her two kids, holed up in a minivan with the doors locked.
Eli managed to convince them to come out. The mother didn't trust him until Sophie vouched for him.
'Kids trust faster. They don't have time to overthink…' Eli noted distantly.
[SURVIVORS SECURED: 6/6]
[OBJECTIVE COMPLETE]
[RETURN TO SAFE ZONE]
"Safe zone? What safe zone?" Eli muttered.
[DESIGNATION: HOSPITAL PARKING STRUCTURE]
[ESTABLISHING TEMPORARY SANCTUARY]
A new waypoint appeared, pointing back the way they came.
Eli looked at the six survivors—three kids, one elderly man, two adults.
They were looking at him, waiting for him to guide them.
'I'm responsible for them now.'
The weight of that settled heavily on his shoulders.
"Alright," Eli said. "Stay close, stay quiet. We're heading back."
Without question, they moved as a group.
Eli led, and Marcus took the rear. They avoided the corrupted souls where they could, and fought when they couldn't.
By the time they reached the hospital parking structure, Eli had consumed two more souls.
His humanity index showed 71% this time, but at least all of the six survivors were alive.
The parking structure was empty and dark, but defensible.
Eli led them to the third floor, and found a corner with good sightlines.
"We're staying here?" the mother asked.
"Yes, for now. Until I figure out what to do next," Eli said.
[MISSION COMPLETE]
[+500 EXP]
[RANK ADVANCEMENT: E]
[NEW ABILITIES UNLOCKED]
[SOUL SIGHT: ENHANCED - CAN NOW SEE CORRUPTION LEVELS AT A GLANCE]
[SOUL BARRIER: BASIC - CAN MANIFEST TEMPRARY SHIELD]
[SOUL PULSE: SHORT RANGE Aoe PUSHBACK (KNOCK REVENANTS BACK 5 METERS]
Eli barely registered the notifications, as he felt totally exhausted.
He sat down against the parking wall.
Six people were alive because of him, and he honestly felt grateful for that.
Sophie walked over to him, held out a chocolate bar to him.
"You should eat," she said quietly.
Eli looked at her.
Eight years old, she should be in school. Instead she was here in the middle of the apocalypse.
"Thanks," Eli said, and took the chocolate from her.
She sat down next to him. She didn't say anything, she was just sitting there.
After an awkward moment, Eli spoke.
"You doing okay?"
Sophie shrugged. "Marcus says we're gonna be fine. He said you're a hero."
Eli laughed. "I'm not a hero."
"You saved us."
"I just… did what I had to." He shrugged.
Sophie looked at him with those big and serious eyes of a kid.
"That's what heroes do," she said simply, innocently.
Then she got up and went back to her brother, leaving Eli alone, staring at the chocolate bar.
Remembering his humanity index, he sighed.
'How much more can I lose before I'm not worth saving?'
He didn't have the answer, and the system didn't want to tell him.